GDT: Round 2 Game 5 Aves @ Sharkes | 5/4/19 8pm MT | Getting over the Hertl

[Colorado Avalanche]

Better team won. And game #6 will be the time to prove what they are made off. Hopefully, they came out firing on all cilinders.

They should have come out better for this game.

 

[klozge]

Not looking good. The Sharks probably just are too good this year. Avs are close but seeing how much losing a guy like Calvert hurts them really exposes the lack of depth. Avs are also losing the coaching battle but Bednar's keeping this one close as well. If Calvert isn't back tomorrow I hope Kamenev will get to play so he can gain some experience. I don't see how replacing Andrighetto with him would hurt the team. Also, why is Z still not able to hit the net from the blue line? He doesn't have to score but right now every shot he takes directly leads to a turnover. I hope he'll work on this in the summer.

Please, git good (and healthy), Meloche and Timmins. I'm ready to lose both EJ and Barrie before next year's deadline although there's no chance that'll happen.

 

[klozge]

Jared Bednar on the Avs' power play: "We gotta move the puck and shoot the puck. It's happening too slow. We're too stationary. We're not shooting."

Been this way for half the season but im glad hes finally calling it out as I have been saying the same thing all season long.

I mean, we could try Makar and Girard with 9296.... on paper that's a killer unit but what do I know?

 

[Forceberg]

At least they gain a lot of experience. I am comfortable with Joe knowing how to build a team with the right players, chemistry, ...
They will only get better. GO AVS!!

 

[expatriatedtexan]

Whelp, today was a day. Early this morning (my time) my nephew was awarded a posthumous degree in Chemical Engineering. My brother and his youngest daughter (9 years old) accepted the degree in his stead. The Chancellor said a few words and then asked everyone to partake in a moment of silence. When that was done, the entire stadium stood and gave a standing ovation. I only got to see a picture of it, but it made me tear up a bit. I saw this on facebook while I was waiting for my wife's graduating class to enter our own little stadium. My wife graduated today with three associate's degrees (Applied Accounting, Applied Business: Management, and Science: Municipal Fire Control.

I was emotional before getting home to watch the game. Not sure how to say this, but I'm still happy with the way today went. The Avs were not elminated and proved they can hang in a game when being dis-interested at best. I'm not willing to even bring into account the fact that the officials suck or that the Avs didn't have the ability to match lines. Our team just completely looked uninterested in the game...but still made it a close one. GRU is a freaking gem this playoff season. I'm glad they will be on home-ice for the next game, I think this gives them a 75% chance of forcing a game 7 and then....yeah, anything can happen.

While I would have liked to see more from this team tonight, I am not even down on the team, the season or their chances to advance. Difficult yes...but these Avs seem like they are better when given no chance. This is the best team we've seen since 2002 maybe. I love it. Great day indeed!

 

[UncleRisto]

Ya, it's weird because we lost and it looks kinda bad, but obviously everyone is happy and probably surprised by the fact that we're still playing. I'll say it again, they're still playing and it's the fifth of May. So if this is it, oh well, we already thought so.

But I can't say that I've felt this way about a hockey team before. I don't know if you old-timers did, but every time I've seen a hockey team do well and fall short, it's been a clear disappointment (by the NT or Finnish league club). This time around I'll just be happy about it.

 

[expatriatedtexan]

To be honest though, I wouldn't mind a bit of a roster shakeup. If Calvert isn't back (and maybe even if he is) I'd probably like to insert Greer and Toinato on the 4th line. They really seemed to inject some much needed energy into the lineup when they helped the team out of the month and a half slump. It's probably best to bench Brassard, Ghetto and either Kerfoot or Sodaberg at this point and look for some added energy from elsewhere.

 

[UncleRisto]

I gotta say, even when I went in to take a look at Kerfoot's stats so I could murder him, I thought he'd at least have like three apples. It's astonishing how much he has had the puck and has literally only managed one assist in two series, one of which we ended up winning pretty easily.

Söderberg only has one assist too, but at least he's playing a different game and he's clearly slumping. Kerfoot should be scoring.

 

[expatriatedtexan]

Ya, it's weird because we lost and it looks kinda bad, but obviously everyone is happy and probably surprised by the fact that we're still playing. I'll say it again, they're still playing and it's the fifth of May. If this is it, oh well, we already thought so.

There used to be a guy on this website that posted in our forum named tapleg...he also ran blog called "Jerseys and Hockey Love". It was always an awesome read. Anyways, he told a story once about watching a hockey game go into overtime and this guy in front of him had a little kid with him an said, "Hey do you know what this is?" The kid answered, "Bonus Hockey!"

Yeah, OT is bonus hockey throughout the regular season. It's free hockey. You didn't pay for extra hockey but you got it. That's kind of how I feel about us being in the second round of the playoffs this year. I expected the playoffs, but I didn't expect us to make noise....yet here we are down 3-2 against the freaking Sharks with game 6 being on home ice. If you asked me if this was possible back in October, I would have probably said, "Nope". The fact is, this team doesn't suck. They had a bad game last night but they key thing to remember is that it was a bad game...they are capable of better and I expect to see better from them on Monday.

I really hope to see at least one of the black aces injected into the lineup for some added energy. I know folks think Greer is too hot-headed but I'd love to get him into a game here and wouldn't blink at benching Ghetto or Brassard for him.

 

[UncleRisto]

Yeah, the thing is, they're not getting anything out of the depth forwards. Söderberg, Ghetto, Kerfoot and Brassard have done squat the whole time. On top of that, you can't expect anything on the board for Bourque, and Nieto was bad last night too. Jost on the other hand has shown signs of better things to come. But anyway, if you're gonna put a spark plug black ace in the lineup, right now you have Ghetto and Brassard who are doing nothing at all, just ready to come out for literally any AHLer, and two guys who aren't getting things done with their line but don't deserve to come out of the lineup. It's now or never for those guys. Bednar has shown ability to adapt, but he's been stubborn with the lineup IMO.

 

[Foppa2118]

Win just sitting there for the Avs if they could make the proper decisions, but they couldn’t. Just looked overwhelmed by the moment all night. The contrast in experience coming into play perhaps. Couldn’t get pucks out of the zone when they needed to, and couldn’t bury their chances. Just a very frustrating effort tonight from the Avs

PP lets the team down. Story of the year is when that happens, the Avs usually lose. Fortunately, they usually seem to bounce back well, so lets hope Bennett and the boys come up with a new plan next game, and execute.

Calvert was missed big time again. Once more, he's the only consistent physical presence outside of Landy. Bourque will throw the body but he doesn't get much ice time, so the impact isn't very strong. They need to respond to San Jose's physicality with some of their own, or they just get stronger and stronger, and eventually wear you down. While Burns and Karlsson roam free and confident.

MacKinnon and Barrie were train wrecks defensively tonight. It’s like they both decided to take the night off. MacKinnon with a real soft night effort wise offensively too. Glad he got called out for his sulking by Hrudey and Kypreos too. Absolutely hate that about his game. He's too old for that BS now.

Not sure why Bednar is so obsessed with Kerfoot. He’s done absolutely nothing in these playoffs to deserve being out in the final minute. Makar might have been the Avs best player tonight and Bednar decided to staple him to the bench for the final two minutes, so he can put out Kerfoot and Compher out instead? Neither were good tonight. Just an awful decision.

Makar just on the verge of dominating out there. Only thing preventing him from doing so is he’s still getting used to the pace. Guys are jumping on him quicker than he’s ever experienced, and he’s trying to make plays a little quicker than he’s used to. It’s leading to some happy hands, puck bobbles, and less accuracy on his shots. He should have finished with more than 18:17 tonight though for sure. Certainly should have ate into Barrie’s 23:38. That’s way too much for the game he had tonight.

Glad to see Jost finally rewarded for his effort in the playoffs. They stuck him with guys he doesn’t click with again, but at least he got more ice time, and found the back of the net with a great net drive. Finally a bounce after a bunch have got against him lately.

Grubauer was sensational tonight. Almost stole the game. He’s so dialed in and reading the play so well. Avs need to come out strong next game for him.

Officially, the biggest game of the year on Monday. No question about it this time. Win or go home. I say we win.

 

[Foxtail]

Bednar always sees the problems and address it after but nothing ever happens.

Bennett runs the pp and was brought in for that specific reason

 

[Foxtail]

Not even close, game 6 will be a fight for our life. Sharks have enough Jarome Iginlas' over there to know how to close off a series.

Meh they're notorious chokers , Avs in 7

 

[Foxtail]

- Well deserved win by the Sharks here, we basically got our asses handed to us for a full 60 minutes by a damn good, playoff-veteran team in a huge game 5.
- I can't think of another game that highlighted our desperate need of an entire 2nd line any better. Too bad Kevin Hayes isn't a FO wizard. Then again, he's at 49-50% which would be an improvement for this team.
- Our lack of shooting the puck, both at ES and on the PP is extremely frustrating, but don't forget the Sharks are very good at taking away shooting lanes, too. We had shots galore against the Flames.
- The Sharks contained Mack perfectly in this game, not worried at all about his "attitude".
- We really need Calvert back. Who would've thought that sentence would be written in full seriousness before the season?

- Grubauer was damn good. If he's playing the next two years at the level he's been at in the playoffs, we got ourselves a real good #1 goalie for a bargain price.
- Makar will be our #1 D sooner, rather than later in next season. And he'll be one of those "legit" #1 D's with an all around game. Props to the people here who have been pushing that notion for a while.
- Jost was another positive tonight, as he's been throughout the playoffs, even with limited time to show it. Maybe there's hope for him to become a real good middle 6-er after all. Not exactly living up to all the Parise-comparisons he got around here, but far from a complete bust as well.
- Zadorov need to be kept as well. His inconsistency is as infuriating as the penalties he gets for being huge, but these playoffs he's been very important for us, and will continue to be so in the future to compliment the smaller, offensive D's we got.

He's playing well but that 2nd goal was weak , all he had to do was catch it

 

[Freudian]

It's not that Kerfoot being a poor finisher that's the most frustrating. It's that he's getting a lot of scoring chances and being a poor finisher that's frustrating.

 

[Foxtail]

With all due respect, As someone who has to watch 82 games of the Vancouver Canucks gongshow ( minus a few studs)

I find that comment you made about Colorado avalanche, remarkably ridiculous.

The Colorado avalanche at the beginning of the year we’re not even supposed to make the playoffs, yet they did

They were absolutely not supposed to win in the first round, yet they did.

They were absolutely not supposed to touch the San Jose Sharks, yet they won 2 games.

This Colorado avalanche team is far from a joke, they are playing ridiculously good, and they are without a shadow of a doubt underdogs yet I can easily see them coming back and beating the San Jose Sharks.

Don’t lose faith in your hockey team, sometimes it’s frustrating as a fan, but in the end, It usually works out.

Just my two cents

Avs were totally pencilled in to make the playoffs , Flames got throttled and I think they still win this series .

 

[Ceremony]

Ah well.

 

[Nalens Oga]

At least they gain a lot of experience. I am comfortable with Joe knowing how to build a team with the right players, chemistry, ...
They will only get better. GO AVS!!

Fuuuuuuck that. I have zero confidence in Sakic. I'll admit I was a Bednar hater, we had a 48 point season but I was allowed to be. I dunno if he's a great coach but he's not exactly the rate-limiting step. The guy is holding the Sharks to low scores with our problematic roster. Sakic has done very little for him in terms of acquiring depth and Sakic has had SIX YEARS.

People here are complaining about the deployment of Kerfoot or Andrighetto or whomever but every coach in this league has problematic deployment of players and Bednar's is not bad in comparison. The way to solve it is to have good depth and as long as you lack any actual top six players outside the big three, you're gonna have a bad time with a Kerfoot or someone. Look at Sakic's best players......

MacKinnon - Acquired from the scouting dep't
Landeskog - Pre-Sakic acquisition from scouting
Rantanen - Scouting acquisition
Makar - Scouting acquisition
Grubauer - Credit to Sakic he needed a goalie and got one
Girard - A prospect included in a trade, I'll credit both Sakic & the scouting department
Barrie & Johnson - Pre-Sakic and one of them should've been moved by Sakic

Joe Sakic is basically living off of two trades (the O'Reilly one and the Duchene one, both trades he had to make which worked out not trades he proactively made). Everything else he's done has been to fill out the roster like waiver pickups or depth FAs and it's worked out in a few cases like Nieto but this is not an optimal roster at all after 6 years as a GM. How the f*** are we even in these playoffs and in this series with no 2nd line? I have zero faith in Sakic to improve things. You basically have to hope and pray that the draft picks and scouting get it done. Oh also speaking of draft picks, he's managed to trade out more draft picks than he's acquired via trade despite us rebuilding for much of those six years (I think he's only acquired 5 or 6 actual draft picks over 6 years, the Rangers GM doubled that amount within like 18 months).

 

[Patagonia]

AVs playing poorly was disappointing, but they've reached a level many of us didn't expect.

Mackinnon can't carry the team nightly, so they need to fix the secondary scoring. Barrie was expected, inconsistent and can be totally overwhelmed in physical games (no point reiterating my trade stance). Soda, Brassard, Ghetto & Kerfoot need to get better, but they were bottom line players anyways and shouldn't have been relied upon for any significant production.

However, AVs need to shift the lineups to reward players showing improvement. Jost needs to play more with better wingers. Compher needs a more defined role instead of bouncing throughout the lineup. Wilson is playing decent, but should never be on the top line or PP. Zadorov, Girard and Makar should get even more ice time considering their presence seem to confound the Sharks. Barrie reduced to the 3rd line with EJ, since they can't seem to shake the tight checking and physical play (maybe revisit next round if they're successful).

The team is still playing beyond their expectations and should be happy with their season, but we need to be realistic, they have holes in their lineup and might need another 1-2 seasons before they become serious contenders.

 

[Foppberg]

We may the underdogs, and it's true that we're not quite a serious contender yet.. but having MacKinnon gives us a chance every year.

 

[RoyIsALegend]

I know they’re veterans and all, but I just refuse to believe that Brassard and Andrighetto are contributing more than what Toninato and Greer would.

Greer - Toninato - Bourque

That’s actually a 4th line with some jam.

Brass and Ghetto are completely useless.

 

[Metallo]

We go killed at the dot again. We have to improve in that area going forward.

Disapointing result. Playing smart with the lead, we could have stolen the game.

The depth looks so bad because many of those players are playing well below expectations.

The team has to simplify its play like they did agaisnt the Flames. Forecheck hard, throw everything at net. I believe we need to mix some more clever dump-ins with our controled entries.

For some reason I see many posters satisfied with our season, as if its over. No its not over. We’ll roll into battle Monday with lots of energy.

 

[Foxtail]

We go killed at the dot again. We have to improve in that area going forward.

Disapointing result. Playing smart with the lead, we could have stole the game.

The depth looks so bad because many of those players are playing well below expectations.

The team has to simplify its play like they did agaisnt the Flames. Forecheck hard, throw everything at net. I believe we need mix some more clever dump-ins with our controled entries.

For some reason I see many posters satisfied with our season, as if its over. No its not over. We’ll roll into battle Monday with lots of energy.

Yep , we are gonna win Monday , this isn't over by any means

 

[Hornstar]

Fuuuuuuck that. I have zero confidence in Sakic. I'll admit I was a Bednar hater, we had a 48 point season but I was allowed to be. I dunno if he's a great coach but he's not exactly the rate-limiting step. The guy is holding the Sharks to low scores with our problematic roster. Sakic has done very little for him in terms of acquiring depth and Sakic has had SIX YEARS.

People here are complaining about the deployment of Kerfoot or Andrighetto or whomever but every coach in this league has problematic deployment of players and Bednar's is not bad in comparison. The way to solve it is to have good depth and as long as you lack any actual top six players outside the big three, you're gonna have a bad time with a Kerfoot or someone. Look at Sakic's best players......

MacKinnon - Acquired from the scouting dep't
Landeskog - Pre-Sakic acquisition from scouting
Rantanen - Scouting acquisition
Makar - Scouting acquisition
Grubauer - Credit to Sakic he needed a goalie and got one
Girard - A prospect included in a trade, I'll credit both Sakic & the scouting department
Barrie & Johnson - Pre-Sakic and one of them should've been moved by Sakic

Joe Sakic is basically living off of two trades (the O'Reilly one and the Duchene one, both trades he had to make which worked out not trades he proactively made). Everything else he's done has been to fill out the roster like waiver pickups or depth FAs and it's worked out in a few cases like Nieto but this is not an optimal roster at all after 6 years as a GM. How the **** are we even in these playoffs and in this series with no 2nd line? I have zero faith in Sakic to improve things. You basically have to hope and pray that the draft picks and scouting get it done. Oh also speaking of draft picks, he's managed to trade out more draft picks than he's acquired via trade despite us rebuilding for much of those six years (I think he's only acquired 5 or 6 actual draft picks over 6 years, the Rangers GM doubled that amount within like 18 months).

This is called hindsight and it's always 20/20. Wasnt long ago this board was unanimous that kerfoot and just were the future. Hell most even said just was untouchable. I'm sure Joe thought these guys along with compher would take big steps forward along with the fan base. It's obvious that Jost isn't ready to take on the #2 role and kerfoot is a train wreck. I would think Joe had a fairly good eye for what is working and what is not with the game if hockey. He's actually done well so far. Now if he does not address the holes in it line up this off-season, start handing out the pitch forks.

 

[AllAboutAvs]

MacK can do whatever the hell he pleases IMO, he is the only reason this series is even remotely close. Maybe Grubauer can be thrown in there.

Not sure you should be focusing on him, Sharks played him well tonight, it probably was frustrating. His attitude or frustrations are the least of my concerns.

Maybe we should focus on Soderberg, Kerfoot, Brassard, Ghetto etc. The guys that have done absolutely nothing for the team. Instead of going after the guy who has carried us to this point.

God forbid somebody says a little something bad about our great Mack. How am I focusing on Mack. I didn't write a long paragraph about it like some do. It's a one line comment.

And the conception that because he is the top player on our team he can do whatever he pleases is so wrong. The way he reacts sometimes to passes and plays that others make looks like he is telling them to get their s**t together or that they are dumb and stupid to try that play when he makes lots of stupid play/passes himself. It looks like he puts himself way above the others...while it might be true he is it's just not a good look. Even the media people that don't watch him very much noticed his "temper tantrums" so that should tell you something. Like I said before I love his passion but there are better ways to express that passion than too-frequent mood swings and poutings.

Anyway like I said it was just a comment. I'm not gonna dwell on it. Carry on worshiping the great Mack. Mack does no wrong!!!!!!!!!!!!!!